Rockies notes: Walt Weiss talks about hit — or foul ball — the cost club in loss to Padres

SAN DIEGO — Grim-faced Rockies manager Walt Weiss, never a man to waste words, was in an even less talkative mood after his club lost a 4-3 heart-breaker to the Padres Friday night at Petco Field.

It was hard to tell whether a possible blown call my third-base umpire CB Buckner in the ninth inning was responsible for Weiss’ mood, or whether his club’s failure to close out a very winnable game was the culprit. Probably both.

The Padres won by scoring twice in the ninth inning off closer Rex Brothers, who appears to have lost his edge in recent appearances. It was Brothers’ first blown save since taken over for Rafael Betancourt as the full-time closer. Chase Headley led off by ripping Brothers’ 2-0 fastball into the left-field seats, his home run tying the score 3-3.

Brothers then walked Kyle Banks, who advanced to third base on a perfect bunt single by Alexi Amarista and a sacrifice bunt by Ronnie Cedeño. Brothers intentionally walked Nick Hundley to load the bases.
That set the stage for pinch-hitter Jesus Guzman, who drilled a base hit down the third-base line, scoring Banks for the win. The ball appeared to be foul, at least according to third baseman Nolan Arenado, who threw up his arms to complain.

‘It’s tough to tell from where I was standing, but I’m going off my players’ reaction,” Weiss said. “The thing that made it tough was that it landed well past the bag, so it’s hard to tell where it was in the air going over the bag.

“I wanted to make sure (Buckner) got a good look at it. He kind of got turned around and that’s what I was asking him. I wasn’t sure he got a good look at it, and our guys thought it was foul. But it shouldn’t have gotten to that. We need to put that game away.”

Brothers, to his credit, waited at locker to field questions about his rocky ninth inning.

“If you make bad pitches you get beat in this league,” Brother said. “I don’t know if I made a single pitch tonight.”

Asked if he has lost some of his command in recent outings, Brothers said, “You go through swings like that, but it’s more about making pitches. I’ve told myself to really stay on top of that and I haven’t done as good a job at that.”

Walt Weiss (Denver Post file)

Late night notes of note:

* Starter Juan Nicasio earned his ninth quality start the season and his third in his last five starts dating back to August 16 at Baltimore. He threw 106 pitches, his most this season and his most since he threw 106 on May 17 of last season vs. Arizona.

* Todd Helton’s go-ahead solo home run to dead center in the ninth inning was the 31st ninth-inning home run of his career, tied with Paul Konerko for the third most among active players. Only Alex Rodriguez (40) and Jason Giambi (33) have more.

* Helton’s home run, his 13th this season, was the 10th of his career at Petco Park. He’s tied with Pablo Sandoval, Justin Upton and Adam LaRoche for the most in ballpark history by a visiting player.

* D.J. LeMahieu, who started at third base, extended his hitting streak to nine games, a new career high.
His previous high was eight games from September 22-29, 2012.

* Center fielder Dexter Fowler left the game in the sixth inning after he re-aggravated his left knee sliding into second base during the fifth inning. He’s listed as day-to-day.

Patrick, a third-generation Colorado native, is back for his second stint covering the Rockies. He first covered the team from 2005-2009, helping chronicle “Rocktober” in 2007 and also following the team’s playoff run in 2009.

Nick Groke has worked at The Denver Post since 1997, as a sports reporter, city reporter, entertainment writer and digital editor and producer, among other newsroom posts. He also writes regularly about boxing, soccer, MMA and NASCAR.